For "The Scientists" It is Never Enough
Labels: Anything Goes Science.
Anyone who believes that Bush funding embryonic stem cell research with leftover IVF embryos would satisfy "the scientists" just aren't paying attention to the constant whining by Brave New Britain's scientists who have what amounts to a virtual blank check. Regulators there permit human cloning, permit the creation of human/animal hybrids, permit scientists to pay women for their eggs by reducing the price of IVF treatments, and still they whine that the regulations are too restrictive and that the government is delaying CURES! CURES! CURES! From the story:Life-saving medical research will be held back by draconian new consent laws planned for embryonic stem-cell experiments, a group of leading scientists tell the Government in a letter to The Times today. The Government’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill will delay vital research by requiring all tissue used to create cloned embryonic stem cells to have the explicit consent of its donor, the experts say.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 12:52 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
you forgot to add the rest of the article where it says:
As this tissue was collected before it became possible to clone embryos, the patients who donated it have not given permission for their DNA to be used in embryonic stem-cell models of their diseases. Scientists in this field will thus be forbidden access to most of the tissue banks that act as vast libraries of the genes that contribute to serious disorders. They cannot seek consent retrospectively as most cells were donated anonymously...
..Its signatories include the Nobel medicine laureates Sir Martin Evans, Sir Paul Nurse and Sir John Sulston, as well as leading stem-cell experts such as Sir Ian Wilmut, Dame Julia Polak, Professor Stephen Minger and Professor Robin Lovell-Badge.
The amendments are backed by the Medical Research Council, the Royal Society, the Wellcome Trust and the Academy of Medical Sciences.
...The new rules will affect the creation of cloned embryos by transferring a cell nucleus from a person with disease into a human or animal egg from which the DNA has been removed. This produces embryonic stem cells with the same genetic defects as the patient, which are powerful laboratory models for studying disease progression and for developing and testing new therapies.
The scientists do not dispute that explicit consent is needed from egg donors and from patients who donate their tissue in the future.
They argue, however, that new rules should not be applied retrospectively, so that they can use cells donated in the past by patients who gave general consent for unspecified medical research.
If stem-cell scientists cannot use existing cell libraries as raw material for cloning, they will in effect have to duplicate these banks. This will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and significantly delay research.
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